By Ilhamie Arif
GOMBAK, 28 November 2016 – “If I do not give him a chance, who else would?” This is a significant quote from Group President, SEG International Bhd, Datuk Mohamed Azahari Kamil, during a talk by him on ‘Charting a Productive Future for Graduates’ held on 18 November in IIUM recently.
During the session, he shared many important tips with IIUM students for their future success upon leaving the university soon to join the industry. Not only that, he shared his experience when facing many characters of fresh graduates who came for interview session and he realised “that qualification cannot be measured by quantification”.
As the talk itself is about charting a productive future, he advised the students to chart their future plan which includes all such simple things like the future company they want to work with, by not forgetting to chart a backup plan in case they are not qualified to join the intended company or organisation. This is to ensure students know their destination after graduating as there are many unemployed graduates who do not know where they want to go after grduating.
Above all, he told the students to give full emphasis on taking care of relationship with Allah S.W.T as He is the best planner. Hence, it is not only that, students now “should take care of their relationship with their parents as Allah’s blessing comes after parent’s blessing”. This is the most important element to be successful in the future, he said.
Meanwhile, he also advised the students not to be over confident of their high CGPA in terms of academic performance. It is undeniable that a higher CGPA is something to be aimed for, however, “it is not everything”.
He believes that CGPA is just a number, a quantity, but “you should bear in mind that it does not guarantee quality of a graduate”. Here he shared his experience where a very high CGPA fresh graduate came for interview and the only thing they want is just to get a job. Until he met this one fresh graduate with CGPA of 2.5 who told the interview that he wished he had more time to study because most of the time he spent to help his parents preparing and selling food at night market. Then, Mohamed Azhari came to realise that “if he does not give him a chance, who else”?
Now, Mohamed Azhari said, he is proud to mention that the low CGPA student is the most dedicated and committed worker he has in his organisation. “It shows that people do not necessarily need a high grade for future success, what counts is the effort and relationship with parents and Allah S.W.T.”
Thus, during the later part of his talk he again stressed to the students, particularly those who are graduating soon, to have a sense of responsibility, integrity and commitment to whatever they are doing now. This is to ensure they can contribute more to the organisation they are joining in the future if they think they are able to shoulder the responsibility.
“This is because a company does not just want an employee to do any task given but to be a thinker to contribute and be responsible to the company,” Mohamed Azhari said. ***